Adjusting Period
by WriterGirl3000
Summary: Sequel to 'The Kaiba Cat Sister'. Read it first. Then you will understand. Cori is adjusting to life in the Kaiba household and life.
1. Chapter 1

Yeah! The sequel! This is a sequel to ' The Kaiba Cat Sister'. If you want this story to make sense, then you need to read the first one first. Normally, I would say review time, but I have no reviews.

Yet!

On with the story!

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(Three Months After Cori comes home)

Cori sighed as she typed on her laptop. She was sitting in downtown Domino, at a coffee shop to be more precise. She was working on her card designs. Seto had gotten her a great designing program and a laptop that would make it most effective. She was still getting used to the fact that since she was now a Kaiba, that she was rich.

"Here's your coffee, ma'am." a waitress said. Cori smiled at her.

"Thank-you." she said. The waitress nodded and walked off. Cori sighed again. So far, only her brothers, Roland, and Pegasus even knew that she was a Kaiba. But in a few days, the whole city would know. She was presenting her cards designs and Seto was presenting her as his sister.

"Watch out, Joey!" a girl cried from the other side of the store. Cori looked up from her work and saw that a blond boy had almost spilled his coffee all over another black haired boy who looked oddly familiar. Cori just shook her head and stood. Her legs were starting to get cramped. She walked over to the counter to look at the sweets that they had. She was looking for chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. It was her favorite. She leaned down to read the little cards when something hot was splashed on her. She gasped at stood up straight.

"JOEY! Now look what you did. Sorry about that." the girl said. She wiped some of the coffee off. "Hmm. You can't go out with a stain like that on your back. "HEY MAI! DO YOU HAVE AN EXTRA SHIRT WITH YOU?" she called. Another girl walked over.

"Yes and don't yell. Hey. I'm Mai and this loud mouth is Tea." Mai told her.

"Nice to meetcha. I'm Cori." Cori said. Mai turned towards the guys.

"Hey guys! Come meet Cori!" a whole group of guys stood and walked over. "The short one is Yugi, the blond that spilled the coffee is Joey, the brown hair guy that is wrestling Joey is Tristan, and the guy with the dice is Duke. Guys, this is Cori." they all nodded. Duke walked over to her.

"Hey, I think that I met you before." he said. The others looked at him. "Oh, yeah! You were the girl that was walking barefoot by the side of the road." he said.

"You met her?" Joey asked. Duke nodded.

"Yeah, I was coming in for a meeting and she was walking down the road with no shoes and torn up clothes. I guess you found who you were looking for, right?" he asked.

"Yeah." Cori said. "Sorry but I have somewhere where I have to be. Bye." she said. She grabbed her laptop and walked outside.

"HEY! WAIT!" Tea called. Cori stopped. "Here's the shirt." she said. Cori took it and nodded. She went back inside to change and then left to go to a meeting with Pegasus.

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"Pegasus, she'll be here in a minute. She is always running late. Anyway, she was working on the designs." Mokuba Kaiba said to the pacing Pegasus. He was afraid that Cori didn't want to sell her drawings to him.

"Calm down. I'm here." a voice from the door said. "Someone spilled coffee on me and I had to change shirts." Cori said as she rushed in, dragging Seto in after her. Even though he was still on crutches. "And I found him outside."

"Seto! We were looking for you!" Mokuba said from his seat.

"I guess that you still hate me for the Duelist Kingdom incident, right?" Pegasus said. He was rewarded with a dark glare from Seto.

"Enough boys." Cori said as she sat down. "Pegasus, I believe that you wanted to see my designs." Pegasus nodded and Cori pushed her notebook and her laptop over to him. As he flipped through them, he smiled and nodded.

"Miss Cori," he said as he stood up and walked over to her. "These drawings are magnificent. Have you always had this talent?" he asked as he put the drawings down in front of her.

"I had nothing to do at the orp…… the house I stayed in so all I could do was draw." she said. She had started to say orphanage but Seto had glared at her. No one was supposed to now that they had been at an orphanage. "I've been drawing since I was little." Pegasus smiled at her.

"Well, get ready, because these drawings are about to become cards!" he announced. Cori smiled and Mokuba cheered. Seto even smiled a bit. Unfortunately for him, Pegasus noticed it. "Kaiba. You're smiling." he said in amazement. The smile was gone by now.

"No, I'm not." Seto said.

"You were." Pegasus insisted.

"No, I wasn't." Mokuba came over and pulled Cori out of the room.

"They can go on like that for hours. I saw them go at it for five hours last time." he said.

"Why don't we go get something to eat." Cori suggested. Mokuba happily agreed.

"LETS GO!" he shouted as he ran out of the building. Cori laughed and ran out after him, which wasn't easy in heels.

( You decide where they eat and what. I'm just lazy.)

"THAT WAS GREAT!" Mokuba shouted as he ran down the street. Cori followed him.

"Careful, Mokuba." she said. He just shrugged and ran ahead. Cori sighed and ran after him.

"Look out!" someone yelled from behind her. She turned and saw a cart with some computer parts on it was rolling straight towards her. She gasped and jumped out of the way. She heard to snaps as she fell back on her heels. She reached behind her and pulled her broken heels off.

"Aw man. These are new." she complained. She sighed and pulled the heels off along with her nylons that came to her knees. She stuffed them in her computer bag.

"Are you alright?" the voice from earlier called. She turned around and saw that it was Duke. "Hey! Its you!" he said when he came up to her. He reached out a hand and pulled her up.

"Yeah, its me. Why are you pushing around a cart a computer parts?" she asked. He looked over at the cart.

"Oh, just working on a new design for my game, dungeon dice monsters." he said. Cori nodded. She had heard a little bit about them.

"Need some help? I'm pretty good with computers." she offered.

"Alright." Duke said. He walked off to get his parts and Cori pulled out her phone and called Seto.

"Yes?" he said.

"Its me." Cori said.

"Oh, hey Cori." he said. "You need something?"

"Yeah, figured I might tell you that I'll be home later. I found something to do."

"Okay. Just don't be out too late, alright?" he asked. She heard some papers shuffling in the background. "Where's Mokuba?"

"Oh, he should be home soon. We went out to eat. I'll call him next."

"Sure. Bye."

"Later, bro." she said while hanging up. She sighed and dialed Mokuba's number.

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Duke groaned as he lifted the last of the stuff back onto the cart. He dragged it back up the hill to where Cori was waiting. When he got closer, he heard her talking.

"No."

"….."

"No."

"…."

"NO! Get your mind off of those kinds of things. I could tell on you, you know."

"NO!!!!!!!!" Duke heard being screamed into the phone.

"Not so loud, bro. Later."

"……"

"Yes, I'll make a treat with you tomorrow. But it won't have too much sugar in it. Sorry, there are some rules."

"……"

"Bye." she said before hanging up. Duke walked over.

"Ready to go?" he asked. Cori nodded. "Then come on!" he pushed the cart down the side walk and Cori followed. He groaned as they started to go up a hill. Then the load suddenly got lighter. He looked over and saw that Cori had grabbed the other side.

"You looked like you could use some help." she smiled at him. Duke nodded and they turned into Duke's building.

(Later on)

"Your good!" Duke admitted as he dropped to the floor. Cori was typing on her laptop, running a last check for him.

"Try switching the left red wire with the bottom right yellow wire." she said without looking up. Duke got up and did as she said. "That's better. Now it should work a bit faster."

"Great."

"I didn't realize that I was here this long." she said, noticing that the clock said almost nine o clock. "I'd better go. If you need anymore help, here's my cell number." she said, quickly writing it down on a sheet of paper. "Bye." she said.

"Wait. I'll show you out." he offered. They walked down the halls and Cori hit a speed dial number on her phone.

"……"

"Hi. Its Cori. Could you give me a ride?"

"……."

"Yes I know that. The address?" she looked over at Duke. He gave it to her and she repeated it into the phone.

"……"

"Thanks. See you in a bit."

"……."

"No, meet me nearby, alright? See ya in a minute." they got to the bottom floor and Cori walked out the door. "Bye Duke. See ya 'round." she said.

"Bye." he called after her as she ran down the sidewalk. He sighed and went back inside.

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Cori pulled the door open and was tackled by a black haired mass.

"Mokuba!" she said. "Let me in!" he let go and Cori climbed in.

"You said that we could make a treat tonight." he whined. Cori smirked.

"I never said that it would be tonight." she reminded him. He pouted some more. "Is Seto at home?" she asked and Mokuba nodded.

"He is actually asleep before ten, for once." he said and Cori laughed.

"I guess he stays up late a lot huh?" she said. Mokuba nodded.

"He wants our company to be the best. That's why he works so hard."

"I get it." she said before leaning back and dozing off. Mokuba smiled and leaned on her.

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Seto still asleep when they got home. He was slumped over on his desk in his home office. Cori smirked. If only the world could see the powerful CEO of Kaiba Corp right now.

"Are we going to leave him there all night?" Mokuba quietly said. Cori looked down at him.

"No. Lets get him into his room." she quietly said. "Go get some help." Soon, they had Roland in there to help them.

"Careful." Mokuba said as they pulled him up. He stayed asleep during all of this. They carefully dragged him into his room and laid him on the bed. Mokuba grabbed some pajamas while Cori and Roland pulled off Seto's work clothes. They pulled the covers over him and Roland left. But Cori and Mokuba didn't leave immediately. They both ran to their rooms and pulled on some pajamas. They went back into Seto's room and crawled onto the bed with him. Cori crawled up closest to him and his automatic response was to wrap his arms around her protectively. Both of them smirked and Mokuba did the same to Cori. They fell asleep like that, safe in each others arms.

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The next morning, both Cori and Mokuba woke up before Seto. It was a Saturday, so they decided to let him sleep in, something he didn't get to do often. Cori and Mokuba had made the treat and were setting up for lunch downstairs when he finally decided to wake up. Well, if you count waking up as laying in your bed wide awake, or at least partially. Seto was about to fall asleep again when Cori and Mokuba poked their heads in the door but he was too out of it to notice.

"Are you sure this will work?" Mokuba whispered to Cori, who was carrying a bowl of icing.

"Yeah, it will. Trust me on that." she placed the bowl next to his head and a sound machine just below the backboard. Then they quietly went back out. Cori reached into her pocket and pulled out a sound controller for it. She turned it on horn and the loudest it could go. Then she presses the sound button.

Seto shot up as a loud horn was blared in his ear. He quickly looked around for what made the sound but couldn't find anything. So he decided to lay back down. Big mistake. He turned on his side to lay flat on his stomach but when his head went to hit the pillow, it hit a bowl of white icing instead. He growled as he stood up. He heard laughter from the door.

"Told you it would work!" Cori said. Seto glared at her.

"I thought that I recognized that trick. Haven't seen that one in years." he said. Mokuba looked at the both of them.

"You did this before?" he asked. Cori started to laugh.

"All the time!" she declared as she started to walk down the halls. "Lets get some breakfast bro's!" she exclaimed and her brothers hungrily followed, ready for another day.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey all! Finally decided to update! Time for a review.

katherine in: Glad you like it!

Okay, now on with Adjusting Period!

I actually need some help. I can't think of a way to introduce Cori as a member of the Kaiba family. Please give me any and all ideas.

* * *

Cori sighed as she flopped herself down on the couch. Mokuba and Seto had gone to get Seto's cast off of his leg but Cori hadn't wanted to go. But now, she was bored out of her mind!!

She turned over and turned the TV on but turned it off again. Nothing good was on at the moment. She jumped a bit when her phone rang. She walked over to the table and grabbed it. She answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey! It's Duke!" he said through the phone. "You busy today?"

She thought for a minute. She was supposed to think up some more card designs but she wasn't inspired at the moment. This would probably help her. "Nope. Where and when?"

"You know where Domino park is?"

"Yeah. Meet you there?"

"I'll wait by the west gate for you. Me and my friends will be there in an hour. Come then."

They talked for a bit longer but Duke had to go. He hung up and Cori went upstairs to go change. Then she took of towards the park with her digital sketch pad.

* * *

Duke and the others were waiting by the western gate and Joey was getting upset that he wasn't eating yet.

"WHY CAN'T WE GO IN YET?!" he screamed.

Serenity tried to calm him down but it was no use.

Duke sighed. "Joey, remember the girl, Cori, that you spilled coffee on?"

Joey nodded, remembering that clearly.

"Well, I met up with her later and she helped me with my programs. We exchanged phone numbers and I invited her to come with us. Got it?"

Joey got a smirk on his face. "So, do you…….." he started but what cut off.

"Please don't finish that sentence." Cori said as she walked up to them.

Tea and Mai went over to her. "Hey!" the guys called from where they were standing.

Cori reached into her bag and pulled out the shirt that she had borrowed. "Thanks for letting me borrow this. And thanks for inviting me." she smiled.

Duke walked over to her. "We're glad to have you. Let's get going before Joey tries to eat a tree."

"HEY!" Joey called from where he was standing. As they walked away, Joey dropped a tree branch behind him. They all sat down and started to have there picnic. Joey eventually dozed off with his head in Mai's lap after eating too much food.

Cori leaned against a tree near the blanket. Suddenly, it hit her. She sat up and grabbed her digital sketch pad out of her bag. She immediately starting drawing a scene of a family near a lake having picnic. She had it finished in about half a hour. Peace at last was what she had scribbled across the top. Cori sent it to Pegasus so he could check it out.

"That's a good drawing." Duke said over her shoulder.

She jumped. Cori hadn't known that he was watching her. "Thanks." she said, suddenly a bit shy. "Not many people actually get to see my drawings." she smiled. "Even though some of them are about to become cards." she muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Duke asked. He had heard her mumble but he couldn't understand what she had said. He was about say more but Joey tackled him from behind. "Whm wa dat fu?" he said into the ground. (If you don't understand mumble, here's the translation. "What was that for?").

Joey laughed. "Tackle football. You going to play?"

Duke nodded his head because Joey still hadn't gotten off of him.

Cori put her sketch pad away and stood up. "Count me in too." she said.

Joey turned and laughed in her face. "A girl? Yeah right." he laughed again. He didn't see that Mai and Tea had come up behind him. "Girl can't play football. They are supposed to cook and clean and stuff like dat." he backed up into the other girls.

Mai glared at him. "Cooking and cleaning only huh? Girls, how about we show him how good we actually are?" she suggested.

Cori had come over and stood by the girls. Some of the other girls who were there came over and found out what Joey had said. The guys that had come with the girls joined Joey, Duke, and Yugi. Cori looked around. "How about we play boys vs. girls, whoever wins get to choose what the others have to do?" she suggested.

Everyone agreed and the game was underway.

* * *

"Miss Cori, even though you won, you shouldn't have been playing tackle football with a bunch of guys." Roland said as he helped Cori bandage the cuts that had managed to get on her arms and face. "Your as bad as Master Mokuba. He always manages to get cuts."

Cori groaned. "Roland, your not helping!" she cried. She tried to sit up but her sore muscles wouldn't let her. "Just leave me to my pain!" she moaned.

Roland sighed and handed her the remote. "Call me or one of the servants if you need anything." he said before turning down the lights and leaving her in there.

Cori tried to pay attention to the TV but it was around seven at night and she was exhausted from playing football with everyone. "At least all the girls get to push the boys around." she muttered before falling fast asleep.

Soon, Seto and Mokuba came home. After Seto had gotten his leg out of the cast, he had to get another check up and they had given Mokuba his half-yearly check up at the same time. Mokuba immediately noticed that the lights were out. "Hey, Seto, do you think that Cori turned all the lights down?" he asked.

Seto shrugged. "Maybe." he said before walking into the living room. Even the TV was turned off. He immediately noticed that there were a pair of feet sticking out from the end of the couch. He walked over and saw that Cori was fast asleep. He nudged her a bit. "Rise and Shine." he quietly said.

Cori groaned and bumped him with her feet. "Meh." she managed to say. Her body still hurt since they had played earlier in that day.

Seto grabbed her feet and put them on the ground, causing her to suddenly sit up. He noticed that she grimaced a bit. "Something wrong?" he asked just before he saw a bandage that was on her face. "What happened?" he worriedly asked.

"Too much tackle football." she groaned out before flopping out on his lap. "Painful."

Seto lightly laughed. "I'll help you get upstairs." he tried to stand but the wrap that was still on his leg prevented him from trying to carry her upstairs like he sometimes did with Mokuba. "How about you just lean on me?" he offered.

Cori laughed as she leaned lightly on him. "Meany." she groaned out as she playfully hit his shoulder.

He grabbed her door which was slightly open and pushed the rest of the way. Then he left while she changed. When Cori let him back in, he collapsed onto her bed. "This feels so familiar." he said when she laid next to him.

Cori laughed as the memories came back to her. "Remember the laundry incident?" she asked. She felt Seto trying to hold in his laughter. "I still say that it was your fault." she sat up and looked at him.

"I wasn't the one who wanted to try and tight walk across the lines."

Cori frowned. "Yeah, and I wasn't the one who said that the ropes were tight enough to walk across _and _I wasn't the one who said that I had to permission to do it. You got me grounded for three weeks and a broken arm."

Seto sat up and stared at her. "What about the time you dared me to go to the old Kaimon house? The on that was supposed to be haunted. I almost got a concussion from falling through that floor."

Cori laughed. "How was I supposed to know that was the reason why we weren't supposed to go in there?"

Both of them continued to reminisce and they didn't realize that they were being listened to. Mokuba was standing right outside the door, feeling a little left out. He let a small tear fall down his face.

Cori fell silent for a minute and she put her hand over Seto's mouth. Her eyes closed for a second then flew open. She stood and hurried to her door. She got there just in time to see Mokuba running into his room.

She hurried down the hall with Seto at her heels. They both found Mokuba crying on his bed. Both of them were immediately at his side. Cori held him in her arms.. "What's wrong, kiddo?" she asked.

"Its not fair." he quietly said while tears still fell down his face.

Seto also wrapped his arm around his shoulder. "What isn't fair, Mokie?"

"I can barely remember Cori when both of you can remember it perfectly." he said while collapsing back into tears. He put his head on Cori's shoulder.

"Oh Mokie." they said in unison. Seto sighed and ruffled Mokuba's hair like he always did. "Mokuba, we both may have those memories but we are going to make new memories, as a family."


	3. Chapter 3

Hey all!!! Here's the third chapter of "Adjusting Period". Two people will find out who she is in this chapter but I'm not going to tell who! ON WITH THE STORY!!!!

* * *

Cori groaned as the light penetrated her eyes. She turned over on her bed and tried to bury her head in it. She was about to fall asleep again but someone else had another idea.

"CORI!!! GET UP!!!" Mokuba yelled as he ran into her room and jumped on top of her.

She shot up with a yell and Mokuba landed next to her. "That's one heck of a wake up call. What time is it?" she asked while rubbing her eyes. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was around noon.

"Can we make the snack today?" Mokuba excitedly asked. "Can we, can we?" he started jumping up and down on the bed.

Cori thought for a minute and her eyes widened. She shot out of the bed and grabbed the small planner that she had laying on the table. She hit a few buttons on it while running around and trying to get changed at the same time. She ran into the bathroom and crashed into the bathtub.

Mokuba was still sitting on her bed. "Cori, are you alright?" he asked as she came running back out looking ready for a meeting. "You forget about something?" he asked.

"I have a meeting with someone about something. I'll make the snack with you later Mokuba, I'm sorry but I totally forgot about this." She ran out the door with Mokuba on her heels. She ran down the stairs, miraculously not falling on her way down. She was thankful that she had grabbed a flat style of shoes.

Roland was standing next to the door. He pushed the door open and held up a plate that had a sandwich on it. He knew that she was going to be hungry soon enough. "Have a good day Miss Cori." he said as she grabbed the sandwich and fished a pair of keys out of the purse that she had.

"Tanks Rolwand!" she yelled back, her voice muffled by the sandwich. She grabbed the keys to Seto's Jaguar that he told her that she could use. She started it and quickly drove off. She pulled into the lot of a small building that managed properties.

She stood and walked inside to where a bored secretary sat. The secretary looked at her. "Can I help you?" she said in a monotone voice.

Cori smiled and nodded. "I have an appointment with Mr. Kuro. My name is Corianna Naomi." she said, using the name she used to use.

The secretary nodded and pointed to a side office. "Just go in there. He's waiting for you." she went back to being bored.

Cori walked through the door and saw that the man was facing away from her. "Sir?" she said. The chair turned and an older man with black hair that was turning gray and glasses resting on his nose. He held a finger up and pointed at the phone while motioning to a chair.

She quietly sat down and waited until he was off the phone. She stayed quiet, waiting for him to speak first.

Mr. Kuro leaned forward on his elbows and smiled at her. "So, what can I do for you today?" he said in a voice that made it sound like she was a child.

Cori narrowed her eyes a bit. "First off, I am not a child, I can handle myself. Secondly, I would like to purchase the land that the Blue Moon Orphanage stands on." she stated in a professional voice.

Mr. Kuro nodded. "I see how you stand. What are you willing to pay for it?" he asked.

Cori leaned forward. "I am willing to pay any price that you offer." she said. Seto had told her that the cost didn't matter.

Mr. Kuro nodded. He and Cori drew up an agreement and Cori made a call to Seto. He also thought the price that they had agreed on was good and he said that he would transfer the money to her account. She wrote out a check and the deal was made.

Cori nodded to the man and quickly left. She smiled to herself. Now she could finally make that place happy again. She drove back to the area that she knew the orphanage was in. Cori almost jumped out of the car and walked in. She slowly pushed open the doors and let all the memories come back into her mind.

Cori walked into the room where it had started. Where she had been transformed by the tester and had been chased by the dogs. Where she had almost been run over and then found her brothers again. Cori reached down and found her purse under the dirty clothes that had been left there when she was transformed. "Thank you Tester." Cori whispered, knowing what had happened to him.

"You are very welcome, Miss Kaiba." a deep teasing voice said in her ear.

Cori jumped and accidentally jammed her elbow into the gut of whoever was behind her. She spun around and saw the familiar face of the Tester. "TESTER?!" she yelled in surprise.

Tester smiled. "My real name is Auron. That's some hit you got there." he said as he wheezed a bit. "Its good to see you to." Auron said when he saw the stunned look on Cori's face.

Cori jumped out of her thoughts and she hugged him lightly. She then stepped back. "I thought that you died." she quietly said. "How?"

Auron laughed a bit. "Let me start at the beginning. I was killed before I supposed to be hundreds of years ago. My hatred made me into one of the evil spirits of the shadow realm. I killed the people who killed me but I craved more. Soon, I started abducting humans and I made a deal with the shadows, the one from the vision that you saw. Cori, you changed my heart. They gave me a second change as a guardian of a building. When I found out that you were buying this building, I choose here. Only you can see me though." he explained.

Cori smirked the legendary Kaiba smirk. "I have a lot to thank you for, you know. If it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't be with my brothers again." she happily said. "I also have a chance to make friends now."

Auron nodded. "I have a question. When you thought I was a kitten and you threw me out in the rain, your friend said that you hated cats for some reason. Why is that?" he suppressed the urge to laugh at the embarrassed look on Cori's face. "Now I know that this is a good story. Do tell!"

Cori blushed more and sighed. He wouldn't give her a moments peace unless she told him. "Well, when I was little and before my parents died, we got a cat from a animal shelter. The cat was a fat tabby who was nice to everyone but me. The thing tormented me every chance it got and one day, we decided to go to the pool and I stayed behind because I couldn't find my bathing suit. When I found it, I started to change when the cat came in. It attacked me legs and I fell over and before I knew it, the thing bit me in the worse place ever. I was never really able to get over it." her face was a cherry tomato by now.

Auron laughed and put his hand on her head. He patted her head. "You have work to do, remember?" he said.

It hit Cori. She was here to check and see what needed to be done and where. "Thanks Auron." she called before going off to do her job.

* * *

Mokuba cringed when the front door opened. He prayed that it would be Cori and not Seto, considering Cori probably won't explode for what had happened. He just hoped that he had gotten all of the flour out of his hair. Mokuba was relieved when Cori walked in. "Hi Cori!"

"Hey Mokie." Cori said while walking past the door. She frowned while walking backwards and looked at Mokuba. "What the heck happened to your hair?" she asked, wondering why half of his hair was now white.

"Uh………well, since I didn't really want to wait for you to come back to make the snack, I…….sort of decided to make them myself. And it didn't go too well." he explained.

Cori wasn't really paying much attention as she walked out of the room again. "Oh, then that's okay." Cori paused when she had gotten to the stairs, realizing what he had said. She backtracked and glanced into the room. "Just how much of a mess did you make?" she asked.

Mokuba nervously laughed.

* * *

The mess before her had Cori stunned. She had to restrain herself from yelling at Mokuba for doing this. The large kitchen was a mess. Flour was everywhere, including the ceiling. Pots and pans were spread out across the kitchen and ruined cookie dough was spilled on the counters and the floors.

Cori's hand shot out and grabbed Mokuba's shirt as he tried to sneak away from behind her. "Your not going anywhere, Kiddo. We are going to clean this up." Cori smiled, remembering that ever since they had made the first small snack, Mokuba had wanted to make another snack.

Mokuba groaned. "This is going to take forever." he said but they still got to work.

* * *

When Seto got home, he had to laugh. He found Mokuba and Cori playing video games with fresh cookies in front of them and a lot of flour in their hair. "What happened?" he asked after putting his briefcase away.

Cori smiled. "We made cookies!" she happily said. A goofy smile crept across her face.

Seto groaned and sat down next to her. "Your hyper, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yup!" Cori cried before jumping off the couch. "Yeah! That race was so mine!" she said.

Mokuba and Seto laughed while Cori plopped back down in between them. "Now that you are home Seto, we can watch some of the movies." she pointed at a box. "I went into the old storage area and found all these home videos that mom took. I thought that we could all watch them together!"

Seto was amazed that she had even found them. Normally, Cori would have avoided anything that even had anything to do with their parents. "Let's watch some of them. I don't think we'll be able to watch all of them tonight." Seto said, taking into consideration how many tapes there were and that it was about ten at night.

Cori nodded in agreement. She grabbed a tape but unfortunately, the tape that she grabbed had a painful memory for her in it.

* * *

Mokuba laughed hard after he had gotten the whole story out of Cori and Seto. "I can't really believe that happened to you!" He had just heard the story about the cat.

Cori flicked Seto in the head for telling him that story. "I hate you." she muttered out.

Mokuba looked at both of them and sighed. "I miss having a pet." he suddenly said.

Seto groaned and Cori perked up a bit. Cori turned towards Seto. "Yeah! Well, even though I was the pet at the time, this house does need it!" she said.

Seto wasn't going to say yes this time. "No, no, no, no, no and…….." he had closed his eyes while talking but he felt a tug on his sleeve and a small sniffle. He opened his eyes and saw both Mokuba and Cori with tears in their eyes and puppy dog pouts at full force. Seto flinched and tried to keep those looks out of his mind. "No……..yes." he relented.

Cori and Mokuba jumped up and yelled "YEA!" in unison.

"But only if you take care of it and make sure that it doesn't poop in the house. It does that and it will get thrown out the window." Seto said. He meant it.

Cori and Mokuba nodded, planning to go looking tomorrow.

* * *

Seto was getting ready for bed when there was a knock on his door. He opened it to find Cori, who was hugging her pillow.

"I hate the extra room." she muttered. "The air-conditioning is turned off in that part of this freaking large house." she stated.

Seto chuckled. "Sorry Cori. The air conditioner doesn't even work in a couple of these rooms. There is a room near this one and Mokuba's but you probably wouldn't like it."

Cori's ears perked up. "Try me." she challenged.

Two minutes later, the door slamming was still echoing in Seto's ears. Cori was standing in front of the door, her eyes wide and afraid.

The room was a designers nightmare. The walls were light blue, the carpet a multicolored plum and teal, and the bed was bright orange. Whoever chose those colors should have been hung up by their toes.

"Never mind." she muttered. An idea popped into her head. "Hey! Could I redecorate it?" she asked, hope shining in her face.

Seto looked down to his shorter than he was sister. He had to admit, it was a good idea and she was very good and making colors go good together. But he still had a doubt that only one person could change a whole room. He told Cori that but she just laughed. "Okay, you can. For now, sleep in the hot room or you can sleep in my room." he offered.

Cori was gone before he could blink. He chuckled and followed her back into his room, where he knew she was already curled up on his bed.

* * *

Mokuba sighed as he and Cori headed back to Seto's car that Cori had commissioned for the day. They had been searching for the whole morning and it was 2 in the afternoon now. It didn't seem like they would ever find a kitten.

Cori carefully drove into the part of town that Yugi and his friends lived in. If she remembered right, there was a volunteer pet shelter near here. She was right and her and Mokuba hurried in.

A brown haired girl lazily snapped her gum. "If you want to adopt, go through that door. If not and you are dropping more pets off, then we can't take anymore. We're out of room." she said.

"Thank you." Cori said as she ushered Mokuba into the other room.

His gaze immediately found a box of kittens. Mokuba pulled away from Cori and went over to them. "Sis, over here." he called. Cori's hand reached over his shoulder and pulled out a small mostly white kitten. She had bright blue eyes and was almost all white except for a spot of black on her left ear and the tip of her tall. "She looks like your cat form!" Mokuba exclaimed.

Cori smiled and rubbed the small kitten's head. It purred under her touch.

A vet saw them and smiled. "At least one of those poor things will get a home." he said, under his voice so as not to upset them.

Cori heard him and handed the kitten to Mokuba before heading to the vet. "What did you mean?" she quietly asked, hoping he hadn't been talking about what she was thinking.

The vet sadly smiled. "Those cuties have reached their time here. I'm afraid that their being put to sleep later today." he said. "At least one of them won't because of you two." he said before walking away.

Mokuba was giving Cori the puppy eyes look, meaning that he had heard that vet.

"No." Cori said. "We cannot come home with more than one. Seto will have both our hides!" She went to move back but her pant leg caught on something as Cori fell backwards. While Cori was regaining her senses, a metal gate shut with a clang. Cori groaned and glared at Mokuba. "Let me out of here, kid." Her voice was hard, a way that Mokuba had only heard Seto use.

Mokuba shook his head. "Not until you say that we can take all three of them with us." he was just as stubborn as her and he could wait.

1 hour later.

Mokuba was playing with the kittens on the floor when the door opened. His eyes widened when he saw who came and he happily went to her. "Tea!" he called as he ran to hug her.

Tea laughed. "Mokuba, what are you doing here alone?" she asked, seeing the kittens.

There was a hit of hand on metal that startled Tea. "He isn't alone and is going to be in big trouble if he doesn't let me out of here!" Cori cried.

Tea was very confused by now. "Cori?" she asked.

Mokuba was also surprised that Tea knew Cori. "Tea, how do you know Cori?"

A laugh came from Cori. "We met the day I was late for that meeting. One of her friends poured coffee down the back of my shirt. Hi Tea." Cori called.

Mokuba nodded. That day made more sense now. "Tea, I didn't know that you knew sis." he said.

Tea blanched. "Sis?" she asked.

Mokuba laughed and Cori groaned. "Sit down. This'll be a bit of a story." Cori said. Together, she and Mokuba told her what had separated them when they were younger and how they had found each other now. Tea, surprisingly, believed them about her changing into the cat.

Tea smiled. "Well, now that I know who you are, would you like to take all three kittens with you?" she asked. "I volunteer here and I have fallen in love with these guys but my uncle is allergic. So how 'bout it?"

Cori smiled at Mokuba's hopeful face. "Its okay, just as long as you let me out of this cage!"

Mokuba and Tea laughed as they finally let Cori out.

* * *

Seto's eye twitched in anger when he got back home after three meetings in a row. He had been hoping that his siblings had forgotten about the pet but apparently Seto's hopes had been in vain. But there were two things that Seto had not been counting on.

One was the fact that there were three kittens in his house. That, and the fact that Yugi's cheerleader was sitting next to his sister.

He motioned for Cori before walking out of the room. He heard her feet quickly follow him and he was about to explode when her hand was clamped firmly over his mouth. He looked down at Cori, who wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Please don't explode Seto. Let me explain first. Tea has been my friend since her clumsy friend poured coffee on my back. She believed me about Tester's curse and didn't over react to the fact that I was your's and Mokuba's sister. I know we can trust her.

"And about the kittens, I'm sorry but they were going to be put down and I couldn't stand to see them just abandoned like that so………." Cori was stopped when Seto clamped his hand over her mouth as well. She let her hand fall.

"I'm sorry. I still over-react and I know that it will happen. It was just the shock of seeing Gardner here." he said, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Cori smiled and hugged him, forcing him to remove his hand. "Thanks Seto." she called as she ran back into the living room.

Tea and Mokuba looked up when Cori reentered the room. "How did it go with big brother?"

"It's okay!" she said, not going into details.

Mokuba nodded. "Don't worry Tea! Big Brother doesn't mind that you're here!" he happily said.

Cori nodded. "If he didn't want you here, you would have been out when he first came home."

Mokuba and Cori smiled and all of them played for the next two hours. Mokuba eventually fell asleep on the couch so Tea decided that it was time for her to go home. Cori smiled at her new friend. "Don't worry about getting home cause I can get Roland to take you."

Roland had been passing the room when he heard his name. "You need something, Miss Cori?"

"Yeah, could you take Tea home? It probably wouldn't be good for her to be walking the streets now."

Roland nodded and went to get his car since he was heading home for the night.

Tea stood and smiled. "Thank you, Cori. I hope that we can be good friends."

Cori nodded and smiled widely. "I never had many friends. Its good to know I have at least one!"

Tea laughed and Cori walked with her to the door. "Later Tea!" Cori called as she ran up the stairs and Tea tied her shoes. She jumped when a voice came from behind.

"Gardner, if Cori trusts you then you are welcome here but do not let that think you are friends with me. Understood?" Seto coldly said. He had to be his old self now, not the person that Cori and Mokuba had changed him into.

Tea nodded and hurried out the door, a little bit scared but she would be fine. It was just……..intimidating.

* * *

The next few weeks went well for the Kaiba's and Tea. Tea was over there with Cori almost every day, both of them just talking about girl stuff that Cori couldn't really talk about with Seto.

It was the last day of the third week since Tea had been coming over that it happened. JOEY, of all people, saw her turning onto the street that the Kaiba's lived on. Joey ran up to her side. "What'cha doin' Tea?" he asked.

"Umm….going to see a friend." Tea stalled, pausing in her walk.

Joey smiled and pushed her to walk again. "Really? Who?" he asked, planning to go with her.

Tea planned to stall some more but a small black projectile threw himself at her. The was an 'Oof.' from behind them and then a groan.

"Hi Tea!" Mokuba happily said. "Did you bring that sketch book like you said you would?" he asked hopefully.

Joey blinked, confused.

"Oi, baka otouto!" ( hey idiot little brother) a voice called from behind them. Tea glanced back and saw Cori surrounded by bags and a small ladder across her legs. "You had to throw the ladder to me, didn't you?" she groaned out.

"What da heck is goin on and why da heck are you 'ere?" Joey yelled.

Tea gave him a quick run down and ordered him to pick up the ladder. She blinked and then turned to Cori. "It is alright if Joey helps, right?" she asked, a bit hopeful.

Cori nodded. "I think so." Tea, Cori, and Mokuba walked ahead, each carrying a bag while leaving Joey to fight with the ladder. "Is Joey the one who Seto calls mutt?"

"Hey!" Joey called from behind as the others laughed.

Soon, everyone was inside the mansion and Cori and Tea were pouring over a book that had a Gaelic feel to it. Joey looked over their shoulders, wondering what the heck they were doing. Cori looked up at him, seeing as he was taller than herself too. "We are planning a sort of…..surprise……..for Seto." Cori explained. "But we have plenty of time to finish it."

Joey looked at the book which actually had a sketch of a baby dragon hatching from an egg on it. "What're ya gonna do?" he asked.

Cori had a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "Well……….." she held out, making Joey upset about having to wait.

"Seto doesn't actually have a room of his own, he took over a guest room and we are going to decorate it!" Mokuba yelled from behind Joey, making Cori groan.

"Mokie!" Cori glared a bit. "That's going to be on the camera's tapes now!" she moaned out. Seto went over those tapes almost every night!

Mokuba smiled. "Don't worry! The maids and the guards are all in on it, so the main security guard, who happens to be Roland by the way, will make sure that isn't on the tape." he explained.

Cori smiled and hugged Mokuba. She walked into the main part of the living room and yelled out. "Tea, can you show Joey where to put his shoes?" she called while pulling open and drawer. Her hand met empty air as she started cursing in a few different languages.

All three of the others came back towards the living room as Cori rushed out of the room. All three of them quickly followed to the second floor, where Cori had stopped in front of a large door. She turned and smiled at Joey. "Give me a lift." she ordered, not giving Joey any room for discussion.

Joey blinked. "Huh?"

"If I remember, Seto would almost always put the key on top of the door frame. I just reach past Seto's shoulders and even he would have to stand on a chair to reach the top here. I need to stand on your shoulders and that should give me enough of a boost!" Cori quickly explained.

Joey shrugged and helped the brown haired girl onto his shoulders.

Cori could just reach the top and had one hand clamped onto the wood while the other felt for a key.

"What the heck are you doing and why is the mutt here?" a cool voice suddenly said.

Joey jumped and stumbled backwards, falling out from under Cori's feet. Cori gave a startled shout when the support from underneath her and her other free hand also clamped the wood. Cori growled at her older brother.

Seto coolly looked at the boy at his feet. "The mutt is right where he belongs." Seto said before unlocking his door from a key from his pocket.

Cori swore under her breath. When did he start carrying his key with him? "HOW, do you suppose, I get DOWN from HERE?!" she yelled at parts.

Seto shrugged and opened the door. He walked through and had almost thought she would drop onto him.

Cori swung her legs and they went past Seto's body. He immediately tensed as Cori let go off the door frame. She hit Seto and his frame should have held her up. But her knee went directly into his left side and his body jerked. Cori hurriedly jumped off and looked at his face.

Seto's face was contorted in pain. His breaths sounding a bit like when he was having a nightmare.

Cori looked at the open door and motioned for Tea to close it. But Tea wasn't the one who closed it, Joey was. Cori saw Joey nod a bit and she just shrugged. She turned back to Seto who had laid back on the bed. "Tell." she ordered.

Seto just gave her a cool look.

Cori shook her head. "You don't hide things from family!"

"You don't need to know what you won't understand!" he shot back, still in a bit of pain.

"YOU DON'T KNOW IF I WON'T UNDERSTAND OR IF I WILL!!!" Cori screamed at him.

Joey had already gotten Tea to take him to show him the book, knowing that something was wrong. He may act like an idiot but in truth he wasn't.

Seto sat up on his bed, glaring at his sister. "YOU WOULDN'T!! HOW WOULD YOU KNOW WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO GO THROUGH ALMOST THREE YEARS ON NOTHING BUT BREAD AND WATER. WOULD YOU KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE TO BE PUNISHED EVERYDAY FOR SIMPLE THINGS!?! YOU WOULDN'T BUT I WENT THROUGH IT EVERYDAY THAT GOZOBURO WAS ALIVE!!!" he yelled, pent up emotions coming out.

Cori's eyes watered. She wanted to cry all the tears Seto wouldn't shed, that he couldn't shed without losing himself. "No. I wouldn't. But everyone has gone through pain in their lives, no different from you." she calmly said. "Seto, look." she said as she rolled the back of her shirt up. On almost her whole back was a burn mark.

Seto gasped and held his hand out, not believing his eyes.

"You aren't the only one who carries scars." Cori simply said. She sat next to him and pulled his shirt up on the left side, dropping her shirt back down. "This one." Cori pointed to a darker deeper one. "This one is the one that effects you. It is deep enough to have nerve damage." she quietly said.

Seto nodded. "It was caused by a large knife. It was the one that happened just before Gozoburo died." he explain. "How?" he simply said.

Cori sighed a bit and flopped backwards. "About a month after you left, I was put in the foster care system. I had gone through five different families before I was put there." Cori turned away from Seto's face. "They thought that they were fine. The wife said she couldn't have kids so I was given to them as, I guess a trial run. Turns out that both of them were drunks."

A few tears leaked from Cori's eyes. "I was beat every time they were drunk and it was often. Most of the scars faded but that man decided in needed to learn a big lesson. I was very upset about being separated from both of you and that was what my problem was."

Seto saw her tense and carefully hugged her.

"He started a large bonfire and both of them got drunk long into the night. At about three in the morning the fire had burned down and they came for me. He grabbed me, slapping me and yelling the whole time. He threw me out of a two story window onto what was left of the fire. I would have died if a neighbor hadn't suspected they were hurting me." she finished.

Seto smiled a bit. "I won't keep much from you but I can't tell you everything, alright?"

"And I will tell you my secrets as well." Cori said as they became closer to what they were before, before their family had fallen apart. But now, they were making themselves a family once again.


End file.
